Igor Bobic

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Igor Bobic is the assistant editor of Talking Points Memo, helping oversee the site's coverage of politics and policy in Washington. While originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Igor feels best at home on the beaches of Southern California. He can be reached at igor@talkingpointsmemo.com.

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Igor

In his victory speech in Nevada Saturday night, Mitt Romney took his contention that the election is about an "entitlement society" favored by President Obama to a "oppurtunity society" favored by Republicans to its full extreme. Unlike Obama, Romney said, he won't buy off votes with government handouts.

From the delievered remarks, sent to reporters by the Romney campaign:

I will not attempt to bribe the voters with promises of new programs, new subsidies, and ever-increasing checks from government. If this election is a bidding war for who can promise the most benefits, then I’m not your President. You have that President today.

Newt Gingrich's campaign has announced that it will hold a post-Nevada caucus press conference tonight at 11 p.m. EST at the Venetian in Las Vegas, instead of the traditional speech that candidates usually give after a primary or caucus night.

The situation in the Syrian town of Homs is quickly deterioriorating as opposition leaders claim that more than 200 people have been killed in an attack by Syrian soldiers on the eve of a U.N. security council vote, reports the New York Times:

There were contradictory reports from Homs, which has been largely inaccessible to journalists and difficult to reach by phone. But videos smuggled out of the city and reports by opposition activists described a harrowing barrage of mortar shells and gunfire that left hundreds more wounded in the city.

“It’s an unprecedented attack,” said Mohammed Saleh, an opposition activist from Homs who recently fled to a nearby town to escape the mounting strife there.

Given many of the comments made in the Republican primary to the contrary, U.S. corporate tax rates as a share of profits are at their lowest level in at least 40 years, reports the Wall Street Journal:

Total corporate federal taxes paid fell to 12.1% of profits earned from activities within the U.S. in fiscal 2011, which ended Sept. 30, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That's the lowest level since at least 1972. And well below the 25.6% companies paid on average from 1987 to 2008.

House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor issued the following statement on this morning's better-than-expected jobs report:

“After several years of bad jobs news, we are finally seeing some good news in today’s jobs report. These numbers are encouraging, especially for those millions of Americans out of work, but we should aim even higher. We shouldn't settle, we can do more, this is America.

“We need bold, pro-growth policies that reduce red tape and will help our nation's small businesses to succeed, expand and create new jobs. Small businesses are the backbone of America, generating more than half of the new jobs in our country. This week, President Obama finally acknowledged the need to help small businesses, offering many of the same proposals the House passed last year that help small businesses access capital and ease tax and regulatory burdens. But we should think bigger. We believe that small businessmen and women represent America’s aspirational spirit, success and opportunity. Each of them took a risk, dipped into their savings or borrowed to start their dream. A small business may employ just a few people, but each one of these workers is able to start building a better life for their families because someone took a risk.”

Speaker John Boehner's response to this morning's better-than-expected jobs report:

“There’s welcome news in this latest jobs report as more Americans found work last month, but the fact is our unemployment rate is still far too high. Our economy still isn't creating jobs the way it should be and that’s why we need a new approach.

“Instead of more of the same policies that simply haven’t worked as advertised, the House has passed nearly 30 bipartisan jobs bills focused on removing government barriers to private-sector job growth. These bills reflect proposals backed by the president’s jobs council and, in many cases, the president himself. We can’t be satisfied with an unemployment rate mired above eight percent for years on end; we must do better. President Obama should call on Senate Democrats to take immediate action on our bipartisan jobs bills, and together we can create a better environment for private-sector job growth.”

Presenting the Republican rebuttal to the State of the Union address, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) attacked President Barack Obama, saying his administration's extreme and divisive policies have held back economic recovery. He said the country must instead be righted by a pro-growth agenda, a simpler tax system, and a balancing of deficits.

"No feature of the Obama Presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others," Daniels said.

Following a decision by the administration to delay construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, the Indiana governor said Obama's policies would put America in poverty.

| GreenCarReports

By Antony Ingram

It's pretty difficult to feel sorry for oil companies.

Why should we? They're in control of a resource we all depend upon, one way or another, and can essentially charge whatever they like for it. As a result, they make massive profits every year. Nobody pities the rich guy.

But maybe we feel a little sorry for them in this case. Why? Because last year, reports The New York Times, companies that supply motor fuel paid $6.8 million in penalties to the EPA for not mixing a special type of biofuel - that doesn't exist - into their gasoline and diesel.

Call us crazy libertarians if you will, but it seems perhaps a little unfair to be fined for a situation you have absolutely no control over.

The GOP debate on NBC's 'Meet The Press' kicks off at 9am Eastern this morning. All eyes will be on Mitt Romney, to see if he can cement his lead over the other candidates. The latest ARG poll in New Hampshire gives him 40% of the vote, with his nearest rival, Jon Huntsman, coming in at 17%. Despite that, in Saturday night's debate the GOP field mostly attacked each other rather than the man who is now the clear frontrunner. Watch live below: